Gelatin capsules have many common uses. For example, gelatin capsules are widely utilized in the pharmaceutical industry, in war games, in bath products, as well as other industrial applications. In the pharmaceutical industry, gelatin capsules may be used as time release or controlled release capsules. These capsules typically contain various pharmaceutical products encased within a gelatin shell and are intended to be taken orally. These pharmaceutical products may include medications, vitamins, dietary supplements, etc. Because gelatin capsules are water soluble, the gelatin shell, depending on its formulation, dissolves within the recipient's body over a period of time, thereby releasing the product. Different formulations of the gelatin shell may alter the rate at which the gelatin dissolves, thereby also altering the rate at which the product is released.
Another common use of gelatin capsules is for war games. Generally, police and military training and mock war games are conducted using compressed gas guns which fire projectiles, such as paint balls. (For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,054 to Rouffer and U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,526 to Kotsiopoulos et al.). The object of this type of warfare is to “hit” a target, usually an opponent, with a paint ball to thereby “kill” the opposing player. Traditionally, the shell of the paint ball is formed of a gelatin shell similar to that used to encase the pharmaceutical capsules described above. As is the case with the oral capsules, these gelatin shell paint balls are soluble in water. Upon striking the target, a paint ball that functions as intended fractures upon impact with the target, thereby releasing its contents.
While these gelatin shell projectiles are traditionally termed paint balls, the agent within the paint ball shell need not necessarily be a paint. Because of the wide variety of possible uses of paint balls in both the game of paintball and in military and law enforcement operations, the gelatin capsules may contain paints, dyes, inhibiting substances, compressed gases, and any other substances suitable for their intended purposes.
When playing a war game such as paintball, the object is to mark the target with a colored mark to indicate that the target has been hit. Typically, the colored mark will be made with a coloring agent such as a paint or dye, and is intended to be temporary. Thus, to ensure removal of the colored marks left by the paint balls from the skin and clothes of a victim, the coloring agent should exhibit good skin and fabric fugitivity. To this end, various compositions may be encased within the gelatin shell including water soluble vegetable dyes and paint formulations. Pigments are also frequently added to increase the opacity of the mark left by the breaking paint ball.
The compositions of marking colorants for use in paint balls can include substances such as ethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, propylene glycol, polyoxyalkylene, starches, starch derivatives, glycerol, ethoxylated mono- and digylcerides, carboxylic copolymers, lilophilic carriers, nonionic polyoxyethylene derivatives of fatty acid partial esters of sorbitol anhydride, oils, and oil based paints, emulsifiers, dyes, water, and any other suitable substances.
When used in military operations or law enforcement, gelatin capsules may contain different types of substances in addition to the above described coloring agents. (For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 6,546,874 to Vasel et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,352,032 issued to Pinney). For these applications, it may be desirable to disable the target instead of merely marking them with a coloring agent. In this case, the gelatin capsules may contain inhibiting substances, such as oleoresin capsicum, pepper sprays, or malodorant compositions, compressed gases, such as tear gas, inert substances, such as talcum, lead shot, sand, or glass beads, skin irritants, transdermal drugs, water, infrared or ultraviolet detectable substances, or any other suitable substances or combinations thereof. Oleoresin capsicum is a safe and effective non-lethal weapon used by military and law enforcement and is comprised of a variety of chili peppers, extraction of the dried ripe fruits of capsicums, and a complex mixture of highly potent organic compounds. Another example of a possible composition for use in a gelatin capsule shell is a combination of oleoresin capsicum, and/or other inhibiting substances, and a colored dye, and/or other marking substances, to simultaneously incapacitate and mark the target.
Because of the diversity of uses of gelatin capsules, the gelatin shells of the gelatin capsules may be formed of many different compositions, such as gelatin, a thermoplastic linear polymer, such as polystyrene, environmentally degradable additives, such as photo-degradable additives, sorbitol, glycerine, starch, colorants, and water. Any other suitable components may also be used in the shell.
Paint balls and other gelatin capsules may be stored and transported in large numbers. It is not uncommon to purchase a bag or box containing thousands of gelatin capsules. A common problem with shipping and storing gelatin capsules in this way is that the breakage of a single gelatin capsule within a bag or container of many capsules can contaminate all other capsules.
During storage, shipment or bulk production, one or more of the capsules may burst within a storage container, thereby releasing its contents. In the case of paint balls, the bursting of even a single paint ball can cause a large number of the other commonly stored paint balls to become coated with the marking colorant or other substance previously stored within the broken paint ball. Since the broken paint ball may not be discovered for a significant amount of time if the breakage occurs during storage or shipment, the paint or other substance may dry onto the other paint balls. This can result in large numbers of paint balls being fused together with the dried paint, and at a minimum, causes each of the paint balls to have its gelatin shell contaminated with clumps of dried paint. The effect is to change the surface characteristics of the paintballs rendering them useless unless cleaned.
The marred surface by contaminants, such as dirt, coloring agents, or any other substances, greatly dimishes the utility of the gelatin capsule. Even without having surface contaminants, paint balls already suffer from inaccuracy, especially when launched from a distance from the target. Paint balls tend to be slightly out of round due to inherent manufacturing difficulties and the effects of gravity. Even when precise manufacturing techniques are employed, known gelatin shell paint balls are rarely, if ever, perfectly spherical. Even small degrees of misshapenness can later affect the flight of a paint ball.
If paint from a broken paint ball is dried on the surface of a paint ball, a number of problems can result. In addition to creating inaccuracies in flight, the dried paint may cause the paint ball to become lodged within the paint ball firing chamber or barrel which are part of a typical paint ball gun. Additionally, such contaminants and misshapenness can impede the handling of the paint ball through automatic loaders on rapid fire compressed gas paint ball guns. The paint ball can become lodged in the automatic loaders, or can become lodged in the barrel of the gun itself. If a paint ball becomes lodged in either place, the paint ball may either impede the firing of other balls or may break within the hopper or barrel of the gun. If this occurs, the operator of the gun will be forced to stop firing to clean out the broken or damaged paint ball, thereby causing himself to be defenseless. This and other problems can result from contaminants on the surface of a gelatin capsule. If this occurs within a container containing large numbers of paint balls or other gelatin capsules, every paint ball or gelatin capsule exposed to the contents of the broken ball must be laboriously cleaned or the entire shipment must be destroyed.
Because of the solubility or swellability of gelatin capsules in water, the cleaning of gelatin capsules which have been exposed to contaminants is extremely difficult. The water solubility or swellability of gelatin capsules has both a positive and negative impact of the utility of gelatin capsules. For example, it is desirable in both the pharmaceutical uses and in the war games and paint ball uses for the gelatin capsules to dissolve after being consumed or impacting the target, respectively. If the gelatin shell of a pharmaceutical gelatin capsule didn't dissolve, the patient may not receive the medications contained therein. In war games, after the gelatin capsules is fired and impacts the target, it is desirable for the gelatin shell to dissolve over time to prevent environmental waste.
However, the water soluble properties of gelatin capsules can also present significant problems. For example, gelatin capsule remains are exceedingly vulnerable to the vagaries of external environments. Rain, sweat from a user's body, and even high humidity often alter or even damage the gelatin shell of the gelatin capsules, thereby impacting its effective use for its intended purpose. For example, prolonged exposure to water can cause the gelatin shell of the gelatin capsule to swell, thereby altering its shape and increasing its diameter. In the case of paint balls, excessive swelling greatly impedes its functionality. For example, when being used in a paint ball gun, a swollen paint ball may become lodged in the automatic feeder or in the barrel, leading to the same problems encountered with the contaminated paint ball described above. Therefore, gelatin capsules cannot be cleaned by merely soaking them in a water based cleaner. Thus, to clean large numbers of contaminated paint balls, it is necessary to clean the paint balls individually and rapidly to prevent extended exposure of the paint balls to water.
Thus, there is a need for a composition and method capable of removing contaminants from the surface of the gelatin shells or gelatin capsules and restore them to their original condition and intended use. Furthermore, there is a need for a composition and method that is capable of cleaning a large number of gelatin capsules simultaneously while not causing any of the gelatin capsules to excessively swell. This invention answers that need.